Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Chinese counterparts on the mandatory residential school system for children in Tibet.

We are aware of reports of human rights violations in Tibet, including severe restrictions on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), Tibetans dying in custody, coercive control, labour transfer schemes and Tibetan parents being coerced and intimidated into sending their children to boarding schools. We continue to raise the situation in Tibet with the Chinese authorities. We also coordinate with partners to draw international attention to the human rights situation in Tibet. In June 2022, a UK led lobbying effort helped to secure the support of 46 other countries for a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) which highlighted the situation in Tibet and called on the Chinese authorities to abide by their human rights obligations. In March, we raised the issue of boarding schools in our Item 4 statement at the UN HRC. We will continue to press China to cease human rights violations.